Comments on: Family Values at Work on Immigration

By: IllegalImmigrationIntroduction

IllegalImmigrationIntroduction — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:35:35 +0000

I just scanned your thoughts, but did you hold the parents responsible for their actions in any way?

By: Kyle Michaelis

Kyle Michaelis — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 10:51:55 +0000

Just caught your post after writing my own on somewhat the same topic. Nice work, Dave. Except I really don’t think that Ben Nelson was just “pandering” on immigration. All signs point to the more likely possibility that he just really doesn’t “get it.”

I hope every Democrat who gives a damn works on getting through to Nelson this spring (and holding Lee Terry’s feet to the fire). There is so much work to be done; we can’t afford NOT to be heard.

By: Jared

Jared — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:58:24 +0000

My Mom was substitute teaching at a middle school in Grand Island the day of the raid. They told all the kids whose parents work at Swift to go to the gymnasium and then told them about it all at once. The consolation?
“If there is no one at your house when you get home from school, call 911.”
How is that for a crappy afternoon?

By: john

john — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 21:06:22 +0000

I read somewhere on the internets of ours that there’s some evidence that the Raids were politically timed, hoping to force immigration to be one of the first topics of the new congress and derail the 100 Hour Plan.

If so, that would be par for the course w/ this administration (see: homeland security warnings, capturing #2 Al Quida Guy every month, etc). I appreciate the “illegal immigrants shouldn’t be here: because they’re illegal” side of the debate. But I really hope that some thought is given to a) the children, who are Americans just like myself, and b) the families who, while not entirely legal, are obviously just trying to do the best for themselves.

These “illegals” arrested this week, I’d like to point out, are nothing like the right-wing boogy monster version of illegals that we hear about on talk radio and Fox News. These were all men and women working full time jobs, jobs white workers in Grand Island didn’t want, paying their taxes and their social security (even though, as illegal immigrants, they weren’t able to file for deductions or ever receive social security, medicare, etc). And the worst crimes any of them are being arrested for are a) being in america and b) 6 of them payed someone to forge documents to make it easier to be in america.

Do I think that illegal immigrants by and large should be granted amnesty w/ out any further debate? Probably not.

But is there a whole lot more to the immigration issue than the right wing wants to debate? Absolutely.

Great post Dave.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 20:23:43 +0000

I have to disagree with the idea of “cracking down on employers.” If, as conservatives claim, illegal immigrants are coming to America to consume public resources, and make use of services such as welfare and government schools, why target the ones who actually are working? It makes little sense to attack them in their productive and peaceful work, when the real problem is the state’s welfare programs. Of course, it’s much more politically popular to demonize illegal immigrants than to get rid of the forced expropriation and redistribution of wealth that causes some illegal immigrants to come for the wrong reasons. Anyways, the difference between a legal and an illegal immigrant is the same as between a legal and illegal drug - it’s a completely arbitrary distinction.

By: dave

dave — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 21:58:42 +0000

It’s unfortunate that the debate is still focused on demonizing human beings who are just trying to make a living. That said, there’s a very real distinction here in that illegal immigrants do not have any protection under the law. They are subject to unfair labor practices and cannot report their employers for fear of losing their job, or worse, being deported. The fact that the employer in this case does not receive any punishment, but the workers do, makes me sick.

By: swissreplica5

swissreplica5 — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:49:57 +0000

hello, it’s good idea

By: Mark Ludwig

Mark Ludwig — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:57:10 +0000

The USG has no compassion even separating families of LEGAL immigrants and people attempting to LEGALLY IMMIGRATE into the US. I am a native born American Citizen and they sent my french wife out of the country because they asked her to do the impossible in order to stay (like attend meeting under threat of arrest on days the office is closed). They had the nerve to tell her she had broken the law by marrying me! Five kids end up without a mom as a result. Honestly, I understand why so many people immigrate “illegally”. The legal route just grinds them to dust. See my website www.ameaglepubs.com or go to www.unitefamilies.org. Our answer is to move away from the US permanently. We’re going to Central America - at this point it’s freer and there’s more opportunity there than in America.